Paris Saint-Germain’s star forward Kylian Mbappe was left behind at the Signal Iduna Park following their 1-0 defeat against hosts Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.
While Mbappe was lacklustre during their defeat, that was not the reason why the PSG team bus headed for Dortmund airport without the 25-year-old forward. He had to stay behind after being chosen for a random drug test, according to French daily Le Parisien.
Le Parisien also mentioned that it is not new for teams to leave players behind in such cases as the team bus always looks to leave the stadium early following a game.
Mbappe later joined the team at the airport terminal in a private car before boarding the Paris-bound flight.
Meanwhile, PSG coach Luis Enrique was hopeful his side would still reach the Champions League final despite the defeat in the first leg.
“It’s football. Very often it is marvellous and other times it is like this. We would have preferred to be in a different situation, but I think when you look at it it was a very even game,” the Spaniard told broadcaster Canal Plus after his side were undone by a solitary Niclas Fuellkrug goal in the first half.
The French champions had more possession and more attempts on goal but were hindered by wayward finishing and perhaps a lack of luck — Mbappe and Achraf Hakimi hit separate posts in the same move at one point in the second half.
“Nobody ever said it was going to be easy in the semifinals of the Champions League. The boys in the dressing room are a bit down. We had one chance where we hit both posts,” Luis Enrique added.
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